Bookies

I have lots of baking updates to make, but a new list of 10 audio-books is easier to post. Most of these are available on either Overdrive or Hoopla, the new free digital service from the library. 

1: The Tilted World
  Tom Franklin and Mary Ann Fennelly

2: Eleanor & Park
  Rainbow Rowell

3: Born on a Blue Day
  Daniel Tammet

4: The Yellow Birds
  Kevin Powers

5: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
  Mary Ann Shaffer

6: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  C.S. Lewis

7: Prince Caspian
  C.S. Lewis

8: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
  C.S. Lewis

9: The Silver Chair
  C.S. Lewis

10: The Red Badge of Courage
  Stephen Crane

White Bread

More savory baking! These cute little loafs of white bread are "basic" but very delicious. The bread was much denser than your standard bagged loafs but not chewy or dry. The bread was best when it was still warm and fresh out of the oven, but it was also great the next day as french toast (post coming soon!) and as sandwich bread.

I used the recipe that came in my KitchenAid booklet (also found here,) which was easy to follow. I probably should have made this bread first instead of starting with French bread last year since it was simpler. 

Easy to slice

Ready to eat!

Flour Tortillas

I've helped my grandmother make flour tortillas before, but I had never made them by myself. Below are pictures from my first attempt to make them from scratch on the comal I received as a Christmas present.   

This recipe seemed reasonably close to my grandmother's (which isn't measured). More importantly, the picture  LOOKED right.

Store-bought or restaurant flour tortillas are often pale imitators of their homemade counterparts. Real flour tortillas should have dark char marks where they came in contact with the cooking surface.

The prettiest one!

It's Like Cup-a-Soup but with Pictures!

I'm trying to keep this blog relatively up to date, but if you want more frequent updates on my baking and other adventures, please check out my Instagram feed. I've added a badge under the "About Me" section on the right. It's really easy to find me though since it's also called Deitri.
Or just click the badge in this post!

... with Books!

Another list of 10. Three of these audio-books were for a book club. Shh... don't tell the other members I didn't READ the books.

1: The Wind in the Willows
  Kenneth Grahame

2: The Dead and the Gone
  Susan Beth Pfeffer

3: The Hound of the Baskervilles
  Arthur Conan Doyle

4: The Age of Miracles
  Karen Thompson Walker

5: How to Retire the Cheapskate Way.
  Jeff Yeager

6. How to Be a Pirate
  Cressida Cowell

7: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  Rebecca Skloot

8: Perfect Health Diet
  Paul Jaminet

9: The Book of Air and Shadows
  Michael Gruber

10: Princesses Behaving Badly
  Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Indoor S'mores

I had some graham crackers that I wanted to use up and found this recipe for Simple S'mores. I stuck pretty close to the recipe but skipped spreading the melted chocolate across the crackers since I thought it was unnecessary and would make them more s'more-like to leave the chips whole but soft. I also broiled the marshmallows until they were very puffy and brown.

I tried them both open-faced and smooshed together like a sandwich and would recommend the sandwich. Also, I lined a jellyroll pan with nonstick aluminum foil to make clean-up easier and to catch the marshmallows that fell off the s'mores. I love caramelized marshmallows!

Valentine

My eldest nephew's Valentine's Day birthday cake. This year his little brother helped me put some heart-shaped sprinkles on both the main cake and the cupcakes. I thought the fresh strawberries would give it a bakery look. 

As usual, the cake was Double Fudge Chocolate Cake with raisin-size pieces of dried strawberries. The frosting is Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting. The cupcakes don't have any dried strawberry pieces for the crazy few guests who don't like that delicious combination.

The center of the two-layer cake (not pictured) was diced fresh strawberries in a strawberry glaze. I've been looking for a homemade strawberry glaze recipe for years, and it only occurred to me to look for one in a strawberry pie recipe this year. It was sweet and delicious, and I'll never use store-bought glaze again!